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Nightfall 1X04
By VampireHunter_D
NIGHTFALL
"Revelations"
The vamps had left behind the body of their fallen comrade, at least one of their cold traits holding true, but nothing could be learned from it; it had become a skeletal pile of dust. Roy and Bill searched the uniform, finding that vampires apparently did not carry any personal items on them, and nothing else.
"What the hell was up with these vamps?" asked Bill, still confused about what had transpired last night. "How did they find us? Diane?"
"They must have triangulated on our signals," offered Roy, not sounding too sure of the answer himself. "When they got close enough they just homed in on the strongest signal source, and since she was transmitting…"
"That’s crazy," admonished Bill. "They can’t be using the equipment!"
"Why not? Do you think that just because they’ve become vampires, that these people would forget everything about their previous lives?"
"Yes. No. I don’t know. But why? Why did they take her? They didn’t even try to feed from her."
"We need to get back to the farm house and tell Ron what’s happened."
Bill started to unhook the walkie-talkie from his belt when Roy’s hand fell on his arm, stopping him.
"We need to stay off those, too, for now."
"But it’s daylight, they can’t track us now."
"Just because it’s light out doesn’t mean it’s light where they are. They could track us from inside a building. Even if they can’t come after us right now, there’s always later. Besides, we don’t want to give away too much information about us."
Bill nodded in understanding and fell into step behind Roy, the pair starting the one mile track back to the farm house. While Bill kept trying to fit all of the pieces together, Roy was busy devising a plan of action.
The S.W.A.T. van couldn’t have gone too far, it had been close to sunrise when they had finally left. They had enough fuel left to get to Columbus Airport, and then they could fuel up and begin an air search, looking for anything strange.
Roy’s only concern was how they would define that. In a world overrun with vampires, what would constitute as strange?
* * * * *
Things had not gone well upon the duo’s return to the farm house. Ron’s indifference to Diane’s…kidnapping…had resulted in a confrontation with Bill that almost led to a fight. Roy had done some fast talking to keep the two men from each other’s throat; that plus placing himself between them since neither one of them was willing to strike the priest.
In order to give both the men time to cool off, it was decided that once they arrived at Columbus airport, Ron would borrow a vehicle and go on a supply run. The group was running low on both food and ammunition, many stores still filled with merchandise despite the wide spread riots and looting that had occurred. Roy and Bill would carry out the search, looking for any signs of recent activity, and rendezvous with Ron back at the airport at five o’clock.
With a range of nearly four hundred miles, the Jetranger was covering a lot of ground, Roy mixing in flight training for Bill while they searched. Bill was picking things up rather well, eager to learn as much as he could since the incident with Ben. He wanted to make sure he was never stranded again, unable to use a full day’s worth of light to get as far away as possible.
Bill was in control of the copter when they spotted something that was definitely out of the ordinary with everything else that they had seen. They were over the north-west part of the city, working their way inward from where they had encountered the vamps, when they located a large structure, akin to that of an enclosed stadium.
It wasn’t the stadium that was strange, it was the fact that the acres of parking lot surrounding it were all full. Hundreds of cars were neatly parked around the building, a very strange sight since all public gathering had ceased long before the final fall.
"Uh, I think you better take over, Roy," said Bill, relinquishing the controls of the craft. Flying slow and easy was one thing, making tight maneuvers to circle about and land was another.
As they drew nearer to the building, they could make out one entire section of vehicles that were nothing but law enforcement or military in origin. Several large trucks like the one from last night were setting within the sea of metal, and they were certain they had found what they were looking for.
The question now was what was it?
Roy set the copter down in front of what appeared to be the main entrance to the building, and the two exited the craft cautiously, uncertain of what they would find. Looking about the vast parking lot, a chill ran through Bill as the silence crashed down on him, the lack of noise going against his every experience.
"Kind of grates on the nerves, doesn’t it?" asked Roy as if reading Bill’s mind. "We aren’t use to prolonged periods of silence like this. And seeing all this, all these signs of habitation, there’s something…sad to all of it."
"Roy?"
"Yeah?"
"There’s someone in there," informed Bill, pointing to the large glass front of the building. "And I don’t think they’re a vamp."
Roy turned to see a lone, dark figure standing within the structure, his details lost in the distance despite that he was within the light. The man turned and moved back into the shadows of the interior, bringing yells from the two men.
The two men raced towards the building, half way there when the mysterious man reappeared, now brandishing a machine gun. Bill and Roy came to an abrupt stop, waiting hesitantly to see what the man would do next.
They did not have to wait long.
The man opened fire on the pair, the two glass walls separating him from his targets smashing down with a thunderous crash. The bullets tore up the ground, making a trail for Roy and Bill as the man drew a bead on them.
Bill dropped to one knee, raised his rifle and fired, hitting the man at least once before Roy joined in. The two’s combined shots quickly brought the man down, the sun to their backs having given them a slight advantage.
The rush of adrenaline still making him shake slightly, Bill released a breath he hadn’t realized he had been holding. He turned towards Roy, and was gripped by fear when he saw that his friend was lying face down on the ground, a small puddle of blood forming around him.
* * * * *
Ron floored the pickup through the mostly deserted streets, few obstacles in his way as he raced along Broad Street, heading for a gun shop that he had picked out of the phone book. He had found several corner quickie marts, snatching up all of the canned food he could find. Some jugs of water, and a case of beer, finished out the food part of his shopping spree, weapons and ammo next on the list.
The pickup fishtailed as he rounded a corner at fifty, laughing wildly the entire time. He hadn’t had this much fun since he had been arrested, rotting in that crummy little Mayberry jail until the Preacher had found him. He almost sobered at that thought, realizing that he owed his life to the man, but he pushed those thoughts away, anxious to have his fun while he could.
Pushing the pickup even harder, he snapped the wheel around as he took another corner, the vehicle nearly rising up on two wheels in response. Ron’s crackling laugh caught in his throat as he heard a boom, the truck suddenly lurching right. He fought to regain control of the pickup, the truck careening wildly out of control in response to the high speed blow out.
Ron managed to straighten out the pickup just in time to see a building rushing up before him. The impact slammed him forward, only the air bag saving his life, the front of the truck crumbling up like a pop can. The back end jumped five feet into the air, dropping back down with a crash that spilled glass and bits of metal.
White stars swimming in a black sea, Ron was dimly aware of an annoying buzzing sound ringing in his ears. Pain, sharp and clear, shot through his back and neck to end up hammering at his head. Through the splintered windshield he could see the cracked, grey block of the building he had run into, then things blurred to blackness.
* * * * *
Diane gasped for air, as if coming up after having been under water for too long, and was surprised to realize that she was still alive. Her other senses began relaying other information to her, and she could tell that she wasn’t alone. She slowly opened her eyes, hoping that her last memories were a nightmare, and stared in astonishment at the sight which greeted her.
She was laying on a pile of straw, surrounded by dozens of…people! Not vamps, not black-clad blood suckers come to take her away, but actual people. She sat up, ignoring the wave of nausea that swept over her, and tried to stand.
"I wouldn’t do that just yet," spoke a voice next to her.
Diane turned to see an older woman setting beside her, dressed in rags and smelling of urine and filth. Alarm bells began going off in Diane’s head as she started looking at the other people, seeing that they were all in similar condition to the lady next to her.
"Drug should wear off soon enough, but it feel like a New Year’s Eve hangover," added the woman.
"Where am I?" asked Diane. "What is this place?"
"You’re in the pen. It’s a pen. We all are in the pen."
"What are you talking about? I was shot…"
"Tranquilizer. They don’t want to damage the food."
"Food?" asked Diane, still not following what the woman was telling her.
"Boy, you haven’t been around have you," replied the woman, stating a fact. "This is a pen, dearie. We’re kept here for food. The younger you are, the longer you’ll live. That is, as long as you can breed."
Diane stared straight ahead, the realization of where she was sinking in.
9/16/2002 9:32:51 AM
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